F1 2011: A Lovely Review

Aka: F1 2011: Why? God? Why?

This year was always going to be different. Despite the usual suspects lining up in the best cars, the goalposts had jumped to a different world. DRS and KERS, Pirelli tyres, new rules, a new Grand Prix and the promises for a great gamut of overtakes. Was it any better than 2010? Well, that’s very debatable. It certainly had its own story, but if you were forced by some oddly-specific maniac to sum it up in one word it’d have to be ‘Vettel’.

That’s really what it’s been about. Sebastian Vettel has dominated to the point of boring the F1 world with his unopposed brilliance. Landing on pole a record-breaking 15 times, and stepping on the top of the podium on 11 occasions, there was never any doubt that Vettel was going to run far away with the title. It wasn’t an exciting championship win – Vettel made a habit of pulling out ridiculous leads into the first lap of races, earning him an untouchable position before the Grand Prix had really begun.

While an exhibition of a driver’s excellence, this sort of victory is something that a viewer will struggle to enjoy. There was little in the way of overtaking or battling this year for Vettel (albeit he did pull off a couple of wonderful moves during the year – namely in Italy), so the ‘Championship fight’ was more of a marathon round the world Sunday Drive for the young German.

You can’t blame Vettel though. Clearly he had a car that was burning the eyes of other drivers through sheer jealousy, and Sebastian just knew how to use it. His teammate Mark Webber had the same machinery available to him, and in contrast had a whisper of a year. Somewhat consistently, he carved out 10 podium finishes during the year, including his race win at the season finale in Brazil, which helped him to third place in the Championship. However, when you look at what Vettel achieved over the year, Mark has to be seen as having underperformed. On the few occasions that Vettel faultered, Mark was rarely there to compensate and convert the fortune into victory.

It’s possible that Webber is still ruing the way in which his title hopes faded in 2010, angrily stomping around in his home and shouting at pictures of Vettel. Perhaps it’s affected his form significantly for this year. I mean, that’s speculation, but I’m going to run with it because it goes well with my next point. It’s thereby difficult to decipher how well other drivers have performed comparatively, as their cars were likely not up to the challenge this season.

However, we can say that Jenson Button has had a very good year, because I’m a fanbo… I mean, he’s put in some terrific drives over the season and looked much sharper and more consistent than McLaren buddy Lewis Hamilton. Button’s performance at Canada seeped enough class to last a season. It was utterly breathtaking.

After Jenson’s title win in 2009, many believed he’d had his moment in the sun and burnt himself out henceforth, but I think his fictional ‘Best of the Rest’ award has shown that with the right car, Jenson can be a challenger in the seasons ahead. He’s by no means the paciest driver on the grid, but he has a real intelligence and anticipation that gives him a cooler head than the feisty young boy racers of this generation. He’s been compared to Alain Prost, and I can see why (despite the fact I was barely alive when Alain Prost was racing).

What of Lewis though? He’s been hanging around the paddock with the face of a child who’s been told Father Christmas isn’t real. Such is the depression of Hamilton that he ended up taking it out on poor Felipe Massa, bumping him all over the track and just being a general bully. OK, that’s an over-dramatisation. I think the Hamilton-Massa saga (one of the most interesting subplots of the season) was partly down to the misfortune of them coincidentally ending up on the same bit of track. No-one can deny the over-aggression between the two though, and their seeming magnetism has been somewhat of a problem.

They apparently had a hug and patched things up yesterday. Well, good for them. Lewis really needs to clear his head of the demons that have persistently pecked at him over the year, and a fresh start with Massa is a good signal. He will hopefully be back to form over 2012 (and by that I mean going past people as opposed to going into them).

For Massa though, his days are numbered I feel. As much as I like to credit him as an excellent driver, he too seems to have suffered from missing out on a title. Since 2008, the old Felipe that had a vibrant streak capable of pushing him to the front of the pack has completely vanished. Instead, the Brazilian failed to finish in any position above fifth throughout the season. That’s undeniably shoddy, especially considering that Alonso conjured up numerous podiums and a race victory.

Ahh, Fernando. As much as he is the man I love to hate, I must admit I miss seeing him and his hairy eyebrows in a title fight. Clearly an unbelievably strong driver, Alonso has had another season in the relative abyss. It should be a dream for him to be at Ferrari. It seems the two were a match made in heaven, but the Scuderia has let the Spaniard down, and he will be getting slightly itchy feet again should the team fail to deliver once more.

I think that covers the top 6. There have been so many stories this year though. Mercedes has continued to be the best of the chasing pack, with Schumacher beginning to get into his stride a little more. Seven-time champion Schumi still fell behind his teammate Rosberg, but not without showing us the odd spark of class. His fight with Hamilton during the Italian Grand Prix just showed how much spirit the old dog still has, and it will be fascinating to see if he can continue to improve in his third comeback season, and indeed, if that season will be his last (again).

The disaster continued for Williams, which has been one of the most tragic sights in F1 (only topped by Eddie Jordan’s dress sense). Their results have been simply terrible. They amassed a pathetic 5 points over the year, and didn’t look up to task at all. For Rubens Barrichello, the team’s tumultuous year will probably see him forced into retirement. For Pastor Maldonado it’s… awkward. He replaced Nico Hulkenberg as a much maligned ‘pay-driver’. He had a super act to follow, with Hulkenberg looking solid in 2010 and delivering a hugely unexpected pole position at Brazil. However, the Venezuelan was poor, and did nothing to please those who doubt the fairness of the involvement of pay-drivers.

It was the debut season for a Brit (the first time since Lewis Hamilton’s maiden year in 2007). Paul di Resta may not have set the world alight in the same way Hamilton did, but he performed very capably with the Force India and was a strong number two for Adrian Sutil. His form dipped after a quality start to 2011, but Di Resta proved himself to be someone with, at least, a mellow future in F1. As for Sutil, it seems quite likely that he will be replaced for 2012. I don’t understand this, as Sutil has appeared to have taken Force India quite far in his six years at the team (two when they were Spyker). If Sutil is shafted, I can see him being an excellent replacement for any team in need of a driver.

It was a bad year for Robert Kubica. Injured weeks before the season started, the rehabilitation of his hand movements have taken longer than expected, and it seems that Renault are beginning to consider a future without Bobby. It would be an enormous shame if Kubica’s career is over. He’s easily one of the most talented drivers to have emerged over the past few years, and I had him down as a dead cert for a championship. In fact, more than that. A completely destroyed, mutilated cert. However, it may never be.

Other than that, they were all either new rubbish teams, or a bit boring, so I’m not going to go on about individual stories. What of the other big topics of the year? DRS for example has split the Formula One opinion base right down the middle (with little cracks to either side for when it made a good race or not). It has no doubt increased overtaking, but in an artificial way. Dull races have been somewhat livened up by the new system, but perhaps at a greater cost for F1. If a car is within the one second mark of the driver ahead for the whole race, he is going to get a massive advantage over the car behind him. It’s a small, yet significant, imbalance.

I’d be more inclined towards a ‘push-to-pass’ system. Everyone has a set amount of times they can use the DRS, and it’s not based on any relation to other cars. That way, the benefits of DRS can be utilised without incurring the potential unfairness of the system. KERS is fine, it does the job without causing much fuss and it seems to work as a constant defence mechanism without being too effective.

The tyres have been another big feature of the season. Pirelli promised that their tyres would degrade very quickly, and would make racing more exciting. Despite this, teams seem to have coped quite well with the Pirellis. The ‘cliff’ has not been quite as immediate as the company suggested, and at worst the teams have had to do a four-stop strategy. However, I think the tyres have made for interesting racing, and Pirelli have done a good job. I do wonder what direction they’ll go in next year – hopefully they’ll go for more aggression and degradation.

One more thing to comment on – the Indian Grand Prix. Contrary to most Tilke circuits, this one looked very exciting, and had the potential to throw up a classic. In the end, it was a bit of a letdown, with Vettel leading every single lap. However, I like the circuit and there seemed to be interest from the Indian F1 supporters. I think it will become a good mainstay for Grand Prix racing over the coming years, and hopefully Karun Chandhok won’t be cruelly snatched of his chance to race in his country.

That just about wraps things up. I’m going to end the year with my seasonal awards (which I literally made up as I wrote the preceding sentence).

DRIVER OF THE YEAR

Well, that’s too easy. SEBASTIAN VETTEL is a worthy champion, and a worthy winner of this award.

RACE OF THE YEAR

Canada was an absolute classic, that will be talked about for many seasons to come. Surely one of Button’s finest performances, coming from the very back of the pack to win the race in the last lap. Extraordinary. Jenson also wins DRIVE OF THE YEAR for that.

SURPRISE PACKAGE OF THE YEAR (TEAM)

Very tricky, because no team outside the big three stood out. SAUBER had some good races though, so I’ll (hesitantly) pick them.

SURPRISE PACKAGE OF THE YEAR (DRIVER)

PAUL DI RESTA was not expected to seem as comfortable as he did in his opening Grand Prix season. Di Resta also gets my ROOKIE OF THE YEAR award.

DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE YEAR (TEAM)

No doubt. WILLIAMS.

DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE YEAR (DRIVER)

I don’t want to continue the Williams hate. I would say Pastor Maldonado, but instead I’ll plum for FELIPE MASSA.

NUMPTY OF THE YEAR

Ok, I will give this one to PASTOR MALDONADO for his utterly stupid move on Lewis Hamilton during the Belgian Grand Prix qualifying.

BROADCASTER OF THE YEAR

MARTIN BRUNDLE has moved into the main commentary position seamlessly, with all the professionalism, clarity and sharp analysis you could hope for.

And finally… THE JB AWARD FOR DODGING THE LIMELIGHT

JAIME ALGUERSUARI. Doing enough to impress, but not enough to capture our attentions. Nice one Jaime.

My Hairpin Over Vettel

Say ‘Vettel’ out loud. Did you hear that echo? That echo that seemed to say ‘Schumacher’? It was a metaphor anyway. Don’t read too much into it if you didn’t. If you literally did though, then be careful, because you sound a bit mental. I was just sort of pointing out that there domination of the sport seemed similar. Go see a doctor, mate.

Anyway, Sebastian Vettel is just one point away from crowning himself World Champion for the second year running. Without doubt, absolute congratulations are in order for the German, who regardless of his advantages, has capitalised to etch himself into the annals of Formula One history. Well done Seba.

Now that’s over with, let’s be more brutally honest. There’s a good reason why some people, me included are still very lukewarm to the idea of Vettel as a Formula One great. It’s not because I don’t think he’s good enough, but rather because he’s never proved it to me. I’m not saying he won’t one day show me he is a truly skilful driver deserving of a place alongside the likes of Clark, Senna and Fittipaldi, but he’s not shown the signs of being so yet. That sounds odd to say about a man who has won 19 races in 76, but there’s a lot more to it than this.

My first point is rather obvious. Vettel has had the best car for two, maybe even three seasons running now. The Red Bull is an incredibly quick machine thanks to the crazy brains of Adrian Newey and Christian Horner, both of whom deserve unrelenting credit for their contribution to two big championship wins. They have produced a car that is capable of being about half a second quicker than any other on a hot lap, and that sort of advantage for a driver is an absolute dream.

I should point out that the above sentence is an estimate rather than a fact. It’s tricky to say how much the Red Bull’s advantage is down to driver and how much is down to the car, but I find it difficult to believe that Vettel is half a second quicker than the likes of Hamilton and Alonso purely through his own ability. You can accuse me of confirmation bias here but I think we have to be honest. Webber’s a great driver but he’s not particularly fast overall, and even he has found it fairly easy to outpace the others in qualifying.

My second point is that Vettel’s luck this year has been beyond belief. He has managed to dodge every single bit of misfortune that could’ve possibly befallen him. Not one pitstop has gone wrong, not one mechanical problem, not one set of tyres misjudged, not one safety car at the wrong time, not one first corner incident, not one car causing trouble when being overtaken, not one change of weather that didn’t suit him. It’s been absolutely crazy.

This may be down to the fact that Vettel is always leading into the first corner, I suppose, but even Schumacher in the dreary early noughties of F1 had a few mishaps to deal with during races. Vettel’s only struggles have been of his own making, such as when he fell off the track in Canada to allow Button the victory. With this in mind, it would have been absolutely criminal had Vettel not taken the title this season, given his blessings throughout the season.

Now I look upon the above seven paragraphs I must pause. I feel like I’m being overly harsh on a young man who has only taken his every chance in front of him, and seized them with a ferociously clinical style. Perhaps this is a totally pointless speculation when you consider the difficulties in judging the ability of a Formula One driver at any given time. I mean, what do we judge? Is it their ability in the best car? The worst car? At this point in time? Ten seasons ago? How do we do it?

I suppose the fact of the matter is Vettel has probably got the car of his dreams right now, but if we are to take in every attribute of a driver’s ability, then surely being in the right place at the right time is just as valuable? Perhaps Vettel isn’t as quick as Hamilton or Alonso. Maybe he would struggle with either of them as a team-mate, but in any case neither of them had the foresight to place themselves in Red Bull’s hands when it mattered.

Vettel’s patience with the Toro Rosso team is probably what has bought him this huge opportunity to win titles, and he’s taking them. Regardless of speed, judgement and everything else that a Formula One driver requires, if they aren’t putting themselves in the right places at the right times, then they won’t succeed. Schumacher may not have had the legacy he has today where it not for his faith in the Ferrari team. Hamilton would probably not be a former champion if he hadn’t cheekily told Ron Dennis he would drive for McLaren one day.

God, James Hunt probably could’ve given up about 30 times before he’d even made it to Formula One given his struggles in Formula 3000, but he persevered and that was a big part in his championship. We shouldn’t write Vettel off just because he has it easy now. It’s a long journey to get into the winning car, and Vettel has made it. Consequently, he deserves all the opportunities he gets.

Well, that was a strange writing process. There was no editorialising here (I’m too lazy for that shit), I genuinely thought I was going to decry Vettel’s championship merits in this one. But as I came to the halfway point I suddenly realised it was meaningless to him, his team and his supporters to make that case at all. Whether or not he’s up there with Clark, Senna and the rest is totally unimportant. Vettel can only play to his potential and that he is doing.

It’s fun to discuss what drivers would be like competing on a level playing field, and it’s easy to make educated guesses based on whether they overperformed or underperformed in their cars, but this sort of thing is facile when we talk about what a ‘great champion’ is. All you need to be a great champion is to be a champion. If you’ve done that, you deserved it. That’s what the system is there for.

There are great drivers who were never champions, and there were champions that were never great drivers, but the two entities don’t always aim towards the same thing. Maybe Vettel is a great driver. Maybe he isn’t. But he’ll always be a brilliant champion.

Strife in the Fast Lane

The word ‘tumultuous’ was invented for people like Lewis Hamilton. He’s the sort of sportsman who cannot go through a season in his career without a heap of controversy and incident being levelled upon his shoulders, but despite this he is still considered one of the best Formula One drivers on the grid. How does such a star lend himself to such inconsistency, you might ask (if you were talking to him)?

There’s been much written about Lewis’ recent chequered form. A lot of people say it’s a problem with his attitude, some say he lacks support, some say he’s just not that good a driver. Whatever the reasons for his lack of consistency, I think the truth is his dip has been marginal, at worst. This year was never going to be his year with the fantastically quick Red Bulls tearing up the field, but Lewis has consolidated a decent 168 points thus far, with a solitary win in China to his name.

As people point out though, he’s been outclassed this season by his team-mate Jenson Button, a perhaps less fancied driver amongst the Formula One ranks up until this season. I don’t think this would be a fair reflection on Button though, as in my opinion he’s a driver that just defines quality in each department. He’s pacy, a fighter, a tactician. To be behind Button is no disgrace at all.

Besides, Jenson has much more experience than Hamilton. His many years in fairly average cars such as the BAR and the Renault were a steep learning curve for Button, but going through such a school of hard knocks has clearly worked wonders for him. When his chance came in a competitive car, he was far readier than his team-mate at the time Rubens Barrichello, who had spent quite a few years playing the safe understudy role to Michael Schumacher. Still, this perhaps doesn’t explain why Hamilton has fallen behind his team-mate.

Whatever the reason, it’s clear that Lewis is currently going through a school of much harder knocks. It’s true that he’s never had to participate in a useless car for more than a few races at a time, but he’s always been in a fight for something, no matter what season it was, and he’s always been making mistakes along the way. It’s easy to forget though, that Hamilton’s career is still in relative infancy, and these mistakes will continue for a few years yet.

But that will come to be his advantage in the near future. If we look at Sebastian Vettel at the moment, he is enjoying the benefits of an absolutely amazing car. There’s nothing wrong with that particularly, but it’s quite incredible that practically no misfortune has befallen Vettel throughout the whole season.

You could say that’s great; that he isn’t making mistakes and he’s matured from his more petulant 2010, but I feel that he’s missing the sort of fight that characterizes Hamilton and Button. It’s rare that he isn’t leading races into the first corner, it’s rare that he gets overtaken and it’s rare that he has to deal with any problems during the race. The Red Bull won’t always be the best car on the field, rather like the McLaren wasn’t in 2008. But whereas Hamilton created the opportunity for the title that year, I have my doubts that Vettel will be able to do the same in the future.

So what about these many incidents that Hamilton’s been having? Why is his style reminiscent of bumper-karts at the moment? I think that this is just the nature of the beast. Hamilton’s style is to absolutely hammer every chance to overtake, and when he gets this right it’s completely spectacular. Nothing compares to it in modern day F1. However, when he’s off-form, this sort of style will take the unfortunate appearance of Hamilton just getting one thing wrong and thumping someone off the road.

That’s why I say Lewis’ dip in form is marginal – He’s only making the odd mistake when you consider how often he gets himself into a scrap on track. Just look at Monza. He spent 27 laps trying every trick in the book to get past Schumacher, and only our old German friend’s brilliant defending snuffed the opportunities out. If Hamilton had really lost his head, he would have ended up going into the back of Schumi’s Mercedes at some point.

So although it’s difficult to know why Hamilton is struggling at the moment, I think there’s no need to fear for him. He’s had a difficult year but he’ll have learned a lot. There was never really an inkling of hope that he’d win the title thanks to Christian Horner and Adrian Newey being Gods amongst men, but next year he’ll be more prepared than ever.